GraceThalia

That's not a rule. I don't put trackables in any ol' cache. I choose the cache I place it in carefully based on whether it has a lot of logs mentioning missing trackables, among other things. I want to give the trackable the best chance I can to continue its journey. Currently I am trying to find trackables in my hometown in North Carolina to take with me on vacation and drop them in Ohio (and will pick up trackables in Ohio to bring back home). So I will not be trading trackables in each cache. Most owners want their trackables to travel far. You'd think trackables were everywhere based on the inventory logs of caches, but they're usually missing. I'm trying to target caches where the last person to find it mentions dropping a TB, but that isn't always foolproof. I've come across a newer cacher that only "discovers" trackables, even if they take it or drop it off.

There are two library caches that I'm familiar with. One was published in 2011 and is one I've found. They used coordinates to get you to the building and then you had to solve the puzzle online to get the call number for the book in the reference section. http://coord.info/GC2EEK3 Another was published in 2009 and I DNFed it. It had two stages, with the first stage giving the clue to find the cache inside the library. http://coord.info/GC1Z9Y5 I think the first example would require less maintenance, but would require it being listed as a puzzle cache.

I have so many packs of playing cards around my house I've been wanting to get rid of. Don't know why I hadn't thought about putting them in caches before. Thanks for the idea!

I'm on my ipad right now. I use the browser to access geocaching.com. You can also use the geocaching iPhone app on your ipad.

If I were in that situation, I'd write to the current owner and ask what their preference is. I'd suggest these possibilities: (1) The cache page could say that it was copied with permission from <owner's name>. (2) The cache page could say that it was copied with permission from someone else, whose name isn't being mentioned to avoid giving away how their cache is hidden. Either way, it would be clear that I wasn't taking credit for the idea. And if the owner asked me not to copy it or suggested something else to say in the description, I'd respect their wishes. Thank you for your suggestions. I will contact the current CO before I do any more work.

You're an awesome Mom! I wish geocaching was around when I was younger. Your son will really appreciate what you've done for him. At the very least, if I can think of nothing else when logging my finds, I will leave info about the current condition of the cache and paper log. Sometimes that can be the most interesting kind of log for a CO! ;-)

I do it because I like it. :-) They're adults (60 and 32, respectively) but not into it all that much. They go to spend quality time with me and to be active. Their profiles are just to keep records straight without maintaining a paper count. Although my boyfriend has started asking me how many smileys he has when we get home after finding a bunch. ;-) I think he's taken more of an interest since seeing some numbers.

Duh, Grace! I misread your post. I thought you wanted to turn rest stops into geocaching spots by placing your own caches! Yes, definitely plan ahead. Otherwise you'll waste a lot of time at the rest stop searching online.

I found a cache that I really liked and awarded it a favorite point. I thought about it for months and decided I'd like to do something similar about 40 miles away in my hometown where I spend a good portion of my time. The original CO is no longer active and their cache has been transferred to an active member. I wanted to mention the inspiration for my cache on the cache listing, however I was concerned about giving away the hide to those very active, seasoned cachers in my area who have already found the original and will make long trips just to find new caches. Should I mention the original in my listing? Should the adoptive owners be emailed?

To give a different perspective on why someone would do this: I actually maintain 3 accounts on here. This one for myself and two for my occasional caching partners: my mom and boyfriend. When we come back from caching, I log my finds first and try to write something tailored to each cache experience, but then I have to log the same caches again for someone else. I run out of things to say. Occasionally I'll add something my mom or boyfriend said about the cache ("This is my favorite one we found today!" or "That's a cool container."). But sometimes, I just have nothing to add from their perspective other than "found this with GraceThalia".

I'm not sure how I missed this email but my local reviewer DID reply to me. I wanted to add his/her response for future reference to those that might search the forums with a question like mine: "Use of both attributes is fine. A lot of folks use terrain 5 to indicate boat use, but in this case you may want to consider not doing this. A local hider to me has similar hides to this, and he doesn't want non-boating folks to miss out, but encourages boat use...so he sets his Terrain rating as 4.5. "

You're going to have to be more specific. Are you having trouble with the coordinates on the site or are you having difficulty with your GPS? If it's your GPS, what brand/model do you have?

This lake is very, very small. (You can see it on the map). There's nowhere to put in a big boat. There's a reason there are only paddle boats; that's about as big and powerful a boat as this lake can handle. It takes minutes to paddle from one end to the other. The paddleboats are what's fun. I don't know of any other place in the city that rents them and many people don't even know about this place. There are many other larger lakes in Guilford County, NC where bigger boats are allowed and worth the effort of putting in a lake. But all hydrocaches in this area require that you pay, either a boat launch fee or a rental fee. No way around it, unless you're one of the people that bushwacks to hydrocaches. I had a "duh" moment and decided to name my cache the title of this thread: "By Boat or By Land". I think that pretty much sums up the cache and makes it clear to everyone.

Thank you for your responses. I have rated the terrain based on walking. The point of this cache is to make locals and tourists aware of this wonderful little lake and the paddle boats available, which I have spent many afternoons enjoying. I do make it clear that it is available by walking, but that the most fun way is by paddle boat. I asked about the attribute because I wanted to make it easily identifiable as a cache that CAN be found by water. I search for such caches by using a pocket query for caches with the 'boat required' attribute. Although I also search the map for caches near a lake. I have seen many caches that make it clear it's to be found by boat, it had the boat required attribute, it's rated T5, but people still find a way to walk to it. Whether that's a T5 walk, I don't know, but I doubt all of them are. Personally, if I knew a cache could be found either way, I would choose to find it by boat. And I'm sure there must be others like me. My listing was pre-approved by a reviewer when I asked him to check the saturation for unpublished caches. I asked him about this dilemma, but he must have missed that part of the email because I didn't get a response. I know they're very busy. I have included "Paddling" in the cache title, so hopefully that will be enough to attract a hydrocache lover. If anyone is curious about the lake, here is a map of Country Park Lake Five B

I have a cache in the works that I'm placing on a very small lake (less than 1mile long). I love hydrocaches and am encouraging people to find this using the rented paddle (pedal) boats the lake offers. However, these are seasonal, cost a couple bucks and not everyone is interested in geocaching by boat. (Bringing your own watercraft is not allowed.) This cache is also available by an off-trail walk in the woods. I would like to appeal to both kinds of cachers: landlubbers and hydrolovers. My question is what the terrain rating should be and what attributes to include. I know many people search for caches available by boat by looking for level 5 terrain ratings, but I suspect many (possibly most) people will choose to walk to the cache and I don't want them to ignore it because of a T5. As far as attributes go, is it appropriate to include both "boat required" and "less then 1km hike" since it could be found either way? Thank you in advance for any help. I searched the forums but couldn't find an answer for this dilemma.

I've been lurking on the forums for a while. I mostly use the search feature to find threads with a question I have about caching and I almost always find the answers here. I'm at almost 50 finds. I live in Greensboro, North Carolina (although I also cache in Winston-Salem where I grew up) and a lot of the caches around here are LPCs or film canisters admittedly placed just for numbers. I don't like pulling off the side of a road or wandering around a parking lot to have everyone wonder who that crazy chick is poking around. I've found some of them, but I prefer caches in the woods, which take some time to plan because of the walking/hiking requirements. So my numbers are very slowly creeping up. I hid my first cache recently in an area I loved taking walks in as a kid. I'm hiding another soon at a recently restored, beautiful little lake, but I have to build the cache container first. ;-) I was very concerned about the lack of finds on my first hide. Took days to get a FTF. But I found a thread of someone with a similar problem and I realized it wasn't me, it was the low saturation of caches in the Clemmons, NC area. Just not a lot of players there. Hope that changes eventually. I cache alone unfortunately. My boyfriend didnt take an interest like I hoped he would, although he's helped me find one. I'm very interested in meeting other cachers in real life, but have not had the opportunity to attend an event, yet,